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v t e Festiniog & Blaenau Railway
Legend
to Porthmadog Harbour Dolgarregddu Junction Duffws (FR) Diphwys inclines to quarries Glynllifon Street wooden viaduct Tan-y-Manod to Graig Ddu and Manod quarries Tyddyngwyn Festiniog
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Ffestiniog Railway Festiniog & Blaenau Rly quarry lines

v t e Bala & Festiniog Railway
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Conwy Valley line to Llandudno Ffestiniog Railway to Porthmadog Harbour Blaenau Festiniog Junction Blaenau Ffestiniog North Blaenau Ffestiniog Ffestiniog Railway to Duffws (FR) Diphwys (F&BR) Glynllifon Street (F&BR) Former wooden viaduct Tan-y-Manod (F&BR) Graig Ddu Quarry Pengwern Quarry Tyddyngwyn (F&BR) Manod Teigl Halt Festiniog Maentwrog Road Line to south dismantled Trawsfynydd power station loading point Trawsfynydd Lake Halt Trawsfynydd Camp Trawsfynydd Llafar Halt Bryn-Celynog Halt Cwm Prysor Viaduct Cwm Prysor Halt Arenig Capel Celyn Halt Section flooded by Llyn Celyn Tyddyn Bridge Halt (under dam wall) Frongoch Bala (New) Bala Junction Ruabon–Barmouth line to Llandderfel Bala (Penybont) (original Bala Lake Halt) Bala Lake Railway to Llanuwchllyn Ruabon–Barmouth line to Barmouth

Diphwys railway station was on the same site as the later Great Western Railway station in the heart of Blaenau Ffestiniog in what was then Merionethshire, now Gwynedd, Wales.

Context

The evolution of Blaenau's passenger stations was complex with five different railway companies providing services to the area.

Diphwys was the northern passenger terminus of the 1 ft 11+3⁄4 in (603 mm) narrow gauge Festiniog and Blaenau Railway (F&BR); it opened with the line on 30 May 1868. The F&BR ran the three and a half route miles northwards from its southern terminus at Llan Ffestiniog to a junction with the Ffestiniog Railway (FR) at Dolgarregddu Junction about 10 chains (200 m) north west of Diphwys (F&BR) station. Freight trains passed between the FR and F&BR at Dolgarregddu Junction, but not passenger trains.

The station was a passenger station, whose main but not sole traffic was quarrymen travelling to and from work. There was a coal siding, a private siding and a run-round loop, but the warehouse and extensive interchange sidings came later with the station's standard gauge replacement.

In common with all other F&BR stations there were no platforms, as carriages were very low to the ground passengers boarded from and alighted to the trackside. Only one photograph of the station has been published. The location is indisputable, with the Queens Hotel in the background. The station building in view looks like weatherboarding, which could explain the corrugated appearance of the other F&BR stations, no published photo of which was taken close-up. The only description of the station building in print reads "Duffws was a stone building, suitably semi-pretentious enough to house the Company's offices! That was about all, there being no platform, only a run round loop and, beyond the station, a single siding for coal. A lane ran up beside the station towards the Queens Hotel to reach the main street; across and over on the other side was (for the first year or two anyway) the even more primitive station of the Festiniog Railway." It is possible that the stone building was later than the photo, or off-shot, but it is not visible in the published photograph.

Diphwys (F&BR) station and the Ffestiniog Railway's Duffws (FR) station were completely separate entities, run by different companies on opposite sides of Church Street. Although officially spelled differently, both could be referred to in contemporary literature simply as "Duffws". To compound the potential for confusion contemporary F&BR sources sometimes referred to their station in Blaenau not as Diphwys, but as "Dinas", though timetables used "Diphwys". The FR also had a Dinas station in another part of Blaenau and a third Dinas station came later with the Welsh Highland Railway, giving more opportunities for bewilderment. Quick, uniquely, refers to the station as plain "Blaenau".

Services

The February 1878 timetable shows that all trains called at all stations on the line, with

• Northbound ("Up")
  • four public trains running Monday to Saturday
  • an unadvertised morning workmen's train running Monday to Saturday
  • two public evening trains on Saturdays only
    • The journey time from Festiniog to Duffws was 20 minutes.
• Southbound ("Down")
  • four public trains running Monday to Saturday
  • a morning workmen's train running Monday to Saturday
  • two public evening trains on Saturdays only
  • a teatime workmen's train on Saturdays only
    • The journey time from Duffws to Festiniog was 20 minutes.
• There was no Sunday service.

Through passengers from (say) Tyddyngwyn to Porthmadog Harbour would alight at the F&BR's Diphwys station and walk across Church Street in Blaenau to the Festiniog Railway's Duffws station. Most trains were timetabled to make this process workable, if tight. Whether connecting trains were held in the case of late running is not recorded.

In the line's early days many trains were "mixed", but this was stopped in 1877. Unlike most railways in the area passengers were the line's mainstay. In 1879 - a typical year - passenger receipts were £1406 compared with £416 for goods. No figures have been published specifically for Duffws.

The standard gauge approaches

On 1 September 1882 the standard gauge Bala and Festiniog Railway reached Llan Ffestiniog from the south, enabling a passenger from (say) Bala to Duffws to transfer from a standard gauge train to a narrow gauge train at Llan by walking a few yards, much as modern-day passengers transfer between Conwy Valley Line and Ffestiniog Railway trains at Blaenau Ffestiniog.

From April the following year the narrow gauge line was converted to standard gauge. Narrow gauge trains continued to operate during the conversion, using a third rail. The rebuilding at Diphwys was total, with the F&BR infrastructure obliterated and the site extended, though the Ffestiniog Railway's tracks which passed to the north of the site were sacrosanct. One source (only) indicates that for a period during the rebuilding Diphwyss (F&BR) station closed, with a temporary terminus provided between Glynllifon Street. and Cwmbowydd Road. Narrow gauge trains ceased running on 5 September 1883 with standard gauge services beginning on 10 September 1883. Duffws (F&BR) station was closed permanently when the narrow gauge ended, being replaced by a standard gauge station known initially as Blaenau Festiniog, later as Blaenau Ffestiniog, later still as Blaenau Ffestiniog Central and locally as Blaenau GWR.

The line reopened

The standard gauge line through the site of Diphwys (F&BR) station closed to passengers in 1960 and completely in 1961 but it was mothballed pending building the long-discussed cross-town link to enable trains to run along the Conwy Valley Line, through Blaenau and on to Trawsfynydd nuclear power station which was then being built. This link was built and a new line through the site opened on 24 April 1964, but none of Blaenau Ffestiniog Central's facilities were brought back to life.

Spectacular change occurred in 1982 when two wholly new stations were built side by side on the site. On 22 March 1982 the ex-LNWR station was closed, being replaced by a wholly new build station on the former Ffestiniog Railway trackbed at Dolgarregddu Junction, yards from the site of Diphwys (F&BR), then on 25 May 1982 the Ffestiniog Railway opened a wholly new station very close to where Duffws (F&BR) had been. Through traffic to the nuclear plant and occasional passenger specials continued to pass through Diphwys' long built-over site using the standard gauge line which covered the F&BR trackbed.

The line south of the Diphwys (F&BR) site closed again in 1998 as the nuclear plant was being decommissioned. Once more the route was mothballed in case a future use is found.

The station site in the 21st Century

In Summer 2016 the Network Rail and Ffestiniog Railway stations on the Diphwys (F&BR) site were still going strong. The overgrown, mothballed and protected single track line still ran south of the site to the former nuclear flask loading point.

The future

Between 2000 and 2011 there were at least two attempts to put the line south of the Diphwys site to use. In 2011 there were proposals to use the rails as a recreational velorail track. Neither this nor the earlier idea came to anything. The possibility remains that the surviving line could see future preservation or reuse by the nuclear industry.

To considerable local surprise fresh moves to reopen the line from Blaenau as far south as Trawsfynydd began in September 2016, with the formation of The Trawsfynydd & Blaenau Ffestiniog Community Railway Company. On 21 September at least one regional newspaper reported that "Volunteers are set to start work this weekend on clearing vegetation from the trackbed between Blaenau Ffestiniog and Trawsfynydd." The company was quoted as saying "We have been given a licence by Network Rail to clear and survey the line."

References

1. Butt 1995, p. 82.
2. ^ Quick 2009, p. 89.
3. ^ Boyd 1988, p. 47.
4. ^ Prideaux 1982, p. 27.
5. Boyd 1988, p. 66.
6. Boyd 1988, p. 74.
7. ^ Boyd 1988, p. 87.
8. Boyd 1988, p. 86.
9. Glynllifon Street temporary terminus, via Festipedia
10. Mitchell & Smith 2010, Photos 52 & 53.
11. Pagnamenta 2016, p. 38.
12. Crump 2016, p. 15.

Sources

• Boyd, James I.C. (1988) . Narrow Gauge Railways in South Caernarvonshire – Volume 1. Headington: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 978-0-85361-365-7. OCLC 20417464.
• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• Crump, Eryl (21 September 2016). "Back on Track. Dream of reopening railway moves step closer". Daily Post. Wales.
• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (2010). Bala to Llandudno: Featuring Blaenau Ffestiniog. Midhurst: Middleton Press (MD). ISBN 978-1-906008-87-1.
• Pagnamenta, Robin (23 May 2016). "Rivals line up to build small nuclear plants in Snowdonia". The Times. London.
• Prideaux, J.D.C.A. (1982). The Welsh narrow gauge railway: A pictorial history (2nd ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-8354-4.
• Quick, Michael (2009) . Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway & Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5. OCLC 612226077.

Further material

• Boyd, James I.C. (October 1959). Mansell, K.G. (ed.). "Bala & Festiniog Section - W.R.". Railway World. 20 (233). London: Railway World Limited.
• Christiansen, Rex (1976). Forgotten Railways: North and Mid Wales. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 978-0-7153-7059-9.
• Coleford, I. C. (October 2010). Smith, Martin (ed.). "By GWR to Blaenau Ffestiniog (Part One)". Railway Bylines. 15 (11). Radstock: Irwell Press Limited.
• Coleford, I. C. (November 2010). Smith, Martin (ed.). "By GWR to Blaenau Ffestiniog (Part Two)". Railway Bylines. 15 (12). Radstock: Irwell Press Limited.
• Ferris, Tom (2004) . British Railways Volume 4 - Bewdley To Blaenau (DVD). demanddvd. DEMDVD084.
• Green, C.C. (1996) . North Wales Branch Line Album. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-1252-3.
• Morton Lloyd, M.E. (April 1961). Cooke, B.W.C. (ed.). "Farewell to Bala-Blaenau Branch". The Railway Magazine. 107 (720). London: Tothill Press Limited. ISSN 0033-8923.
• Richards, Alun John (2001). The Slate Railways of Wales. Llanrwst: Gwasg Carreg Gwalch. ISBN 978-0-86381-689-5.
• Southern, D. W. (1995). Bala Junction to Blaenau Ffestiniog (Scenes from the Past, Railways of North Wales, No. 25). Stockport: Foxline Publishing. ISBN 978-1-870119-34-4.
• Turner, Alun (2003). Gwynedd's Lost Railways. Catrine: Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84033-259-9.

External links

• The station site on a navigable OS Map National Library of Scotland
• The site on a navigable 1953 OS map npe Maps
• The station and line Rail Map Online
• Festiniog and Blaenau Railway, via Festipedia

• Disused railway stations in Gwynedd
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1868
• Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1883
• Blaenau Ffestiniog